The 2014 Super Rugby Final, was played between the New South Wales Waratahs from Australia and the

Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were in ...

from New Zealand on 2 August 2014. It was the 19th final in the Super Rugby competition's history and the fourth under the expanded 15-team format. The Waratahs had qualified in first place during the regular season, while the Crusaders had qualified in second place. Both teams hosted semi-final matches, with the Waratahs defeating fellow Australian team the

Brumbies The ACT Brumbies (known from 2005–2022 as simply the Brumbies) is an Australian professional rugby union team based in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory (ACT), The team competes in Super Rugby and named for the brumby, feral horses whi ...

in Sydney and the Crusaders defeating South African team the

Sharks Sharks are a group of elasmobranch fish characterized by a cartilaginous skeleton, five to seven gill slits on the sides of the head, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the clade Selachimorp ...

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon Rive ...

. As the Waratahs had qualified higher, the final was held in Sydney. The final attracted the Super Rugby record attendance of 61,823 to the

ANZ Stadium ANZ may refer to: People * Anz (musician), a British DJ and electronic musician Banks * ANZ (bank), Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited, the fourth-largest bank in Australia ** ANZ Bank New Zealand, the largest bank in New Zealand * ...

Road to the final

The 2014 Super Rugby competition involved fifteen teams, five each from South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. The 2014 season was the 19th year of the competition, and the fourth in the expanded 15 team format (12 teams competed between 1996 and 2005, before increasing to 14 between 2006 and 2010). The 2014 competition began on 15 February with the regular season consisting of 120 matches over twenty-two weeks. Each team played the others from their own conference (both home and away), plus four out of five teams from the other two countries (two at home and two away in each case). The top six teams after the regular season advanced to the finals. The Waratahs finished top of the Australian conference and topped the overall standings, with twelve wins and just four losses during the season (to the

Western Force The Western Force is an Australian professional rugby union team based in Perth, Western Australia, currently competing in Super Rugby Pacific. They previously played in Super Rugby from 2006 until they were axed from the competition in 2017. F ...

, Blues, and

). The Crusaders finished top of the New Zealand conference with eleven wins and five losses—to the

Hurricanes A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depend ...

(twice), Chiefs, Blues, and Sharks. The Sharks won the South African conference, and the Brumbies, Chiefs and Highlanders filled the remaining three places as the next top finishers during the regular season. The Brumbies hosted the Chiefs in Canberra in the first qualifying final, while the Highlanders traveled to Durban to play the Sharks. The Brumbies and Chiefs scored four tries apiece in the first qualifier, but the Brumbies prevailed with

Christian Lealiifano Christian Leali'ifano (born 24 September 1987), is an Australian professional rugby player. He is of Samoan heritage, and his surname is spelled Leali'ifano when using Samoan diacritics. He currently plays for Moana Pasifika in the Super Rugb ...

successful with five kicks from eight off the tee in their 32–30 victory. The second qualifier was also a close match with the Sharks and Highlanders scoring three tries each, but the Sharks came from behind with two penalty kicks by François Steyn in the final 6 minutes to win by 31–27. For the semi-finals, the Sharks flew to Christchurch to play the Crusaders and the Brumbies travelled to Sydney to play the Waratahs. Both games were won by a clear margin in the end but the run of play in each match was substantially different. The Crusaders scored five tries to nil to defeat the Sharks by 38–6. The Brumbies, by contrast, were not shut out of the game until Waratahs' fly-half Bernard Foley scored ten points in last seven minutes to secure victory for his side by 26–8.

Final match

Match details

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Super 14

Final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: * Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...

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2014 in Australian rugby union 2014 in New Zealand rugby union Crusaders (rugby union) matches New South Wales Waratahs matches Sports competitions in Sydney